


As Luck Would Have It

by MonUniLight



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: F/M, Interns & Internships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-10 09:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14734481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonUniLight/pseuds/MonUniLight
Summary: You're studying abroad in your final year of university to intern at a music company. What it entails is anything but what you expected.





	As Luck Would Have It

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a of soft fluffiness because that is what I think of when I think of Woozi. Enjoy!

Your friend had convinced you when you started college to study abroad with her in South Korea in your last year. When you had made the promise, it seemed so far away, you were sure she would lose interest in going three years later.

But that’s how you found yourself packing up and going halfway across the world for a semester and a half with your friend Lily. You didn’t have any classes you needed to take to complete your degree at this point, so your school just set you up with an internship and a couple of easy classes at the university.

You left a week before your classes started, giving you time to settle in and get to know the area.

You had spent much of that week exploring the city, adjusting to the time zone, and checking out the night life. Your friend had even convinced you to get drunk a few times during that week. While it had been fun, you had put off all your preparations for your classes and internship.

The day before your internship was set to start, you decided you needed to buckle down for the day and read all the materials they had given to you. At least then you would look a little prepared when you showed up tomorrow. It was quite a stack of papers, so you weren’t even concerned about looking over your courses before they started and just focused on this.

You had chosen to go to a café for the day and go over the materials. The café near your dorm was busy when you arrived, but you were able to snag a table on the second-floor patio. The noise of the busy city street below was calming and made you ready to dive into the heavy reading.

You were getting into the meat of what your job would be at the company when you heard someone clear their throat very close to your table. You looked up to find a guy, about your age, standing by the empty chair in front of you. He looked shyly down at the table as he spoke.

“Hi, uh, all the other tables are full right now. Do you mind if I sit with you?” His eyes flicked up to you after he got his question out. They were very dark, almost black, appearing endless and like there were a million thoughts racing behind them.

You nodded, motioning for him to go ahead and sit down. You bent your head down to attempt to read more, but he spoke up again, much to your surprise. “My name is Jihoon, by the way.”

You took his outstretched hand, shaking it gently. “I’m Y/N.” He smiled at you, a sweet, yet still shy, flash of his teeth.

“Are you studying for something?” He nodded towards your stack of papers.

“Oh, no. I’m starting an internship tomorrow, I wanted to know about the company before I began.” You explained quickly, holding up the first little pamphlet for him to look at.

He took it, scanning over the front before chuckling softly. “You’re interning at Pledis?” You nodded, wondering why that warranted a laugh. From what you could tell, they were a decently sized, reputable company. “What are you going to be doing there?”

“I think I’m shadowing a manager of one of their groups. I don’t know anything beyond that, which is why I was going to read the materials they had given me.” You snatched the pamphlet back, setting it with the other materials. “What are you doing?” You noticed he had set a notebook on the table when he sat down.

“Uh,” He was obviously searching for words as he covered the notebook with his arms, shielding whatever was written on the front from you. “Just a little bit of work. What group are you going to be working with?”

“I’m not sure.” You shrugged, turning your attention away from him to your papers. You leafed through them quickly, but they didn’t say much beyond what you already knew with the quick skim through. “I suppose I’ll find out tomorrow.”

He nodded contemplatively, his eyes glazed over a bit in thought. When he snapped out of it, he looked up and smiled at you again. “I’m sure whoever it is, you’ll have a good experience. I’ve heard good things about the company.”

You nodded, not sure what to say to further the conversation at all. Instead, you looked down at your phone. There were a dozen texts and a handful of calls from your friend, and you realized you were late meeting her for dinner. “I’m sorry, but I’m supposed to meet a friend for dinner. It was nice to meet you though.”

As you were starting to scurry away, you barely caught Jihoon saying, “I’m sure I’ll see you again.” That seemed like an odd statement, considering how big the city was and how unrealistic it would be to run into a stranger again.

The next day you woke up extra early so that you had time to perfect your appearance before you had to head out to the company building. Your advisor had given you step-by-step instructions on how to get to the company’s building as well as how to navigate the underground train system here, so it didn’t take you long to arrive at the large building. You headed up to the third floor, where you were greeted by a young and bright secretary.

“Hello, welcome. May I ask your name?” She smiled, her red lips stretching over perfectly white teeth. She had on a smart suit jacket and matching pencil skirt. You looked down at your own outfit, a flowery dress with a cardigan over it and heeled booties. You suddenly questioned if you had misinterpreted what would be acceptable attire at a music company.

“Uh, I’m Y/N, the new intern.” You said nervously but attempted to smile back at her.

“Yes, we’ve been excited for your arrival, Y/N. Please, have a seat. I’ll call the manager you’ll be working with to come down right away.” She sat back down at her desk, picking up a phone and deftly punching in the number she wanted.

You turned away as she began to speak to someone on the other end, looking at the seating area. There were several large, black leather chairs around a glass coffee table. There were magazines littered across the table, all featuring one of the groups at the company. You went to take a seat, starting to thumb through one of the issues. Several minutes passed before you heard the footsteps of a large, round man bumbling down the stairs.

He smiled brightly as he approached, his eyes glued to you the whole time he attempted to walk smoothly towards you. “Y/N, welcome to Pledis! We are so happy you’re interning with us.”

You stood up, smiling as well. “Thank you very much, I’m thankful for the opportunity to work with you.” You tried your best to be as polite as possible despite your jittering nerves. When the man finally reached you, you shook hands. His sweaty palm enveloped your hand completely.

“I have to admit, I made a bit of a scheduling error. I’ve got a meeting to finish up before I work with you. I figured it would be best to introduce you to the leaders of the group you’ll be working with, Seventeen, and they can show you around the company. After that, you can meet the rest of the boys, and, by then, I should be free. Does that sound good to you?”

You nodded, your nerves even more on edge. You remembered reading a little about Seventeen, a boy band with too many members who had been very successful recently. The manager motioned for you to follow him back up the stairs. It was slow going as he plunked his way up, but he, thankfully, didn’t make any small talk as you made your way to what looked like a dance studio.

He stopped you at the door with a flick of his hand. He walked through the door while you waited anxiously outside. A moment later he returned, now with three guys trailing. You looked over the first two who were smiling kindly at you while greeting you. Then your eyes landed on the third. You were shocked to see Jihoon standing there, giving you a knowing and mocking grin.

“Y/N, this is S.Coups, Hoshi, and Woozi. They’ll show you around the company.” He said this to you, then turned to the guys with a firmer tone. “Be good to her, she’s going to be putting up with you guys for a while.”

The three nodded eagerly, and then the manager was on his way. You smiled awkwardly at the three guys, not sure how to proceed.

“Well, come along, we’ll show you around.” One of them, you thought it was Hoshi, motioned for you to follow him down the hallway.

You walked, making sure to fall into step with Jihoon, or Woozi as he was called here apparently, as you did. “So, why did you not tell me?”

He chuckled, watching the ground as he walked instead of meeting your gaze. “I don’t know, it was amusing that it’d be a surprise. I didn’t even know you’d be working with us, though.”

“You two know each other?” S. Coups asked, he was trailing behind the group.

“We met yesterday at a café. All the other tables were full, so I sat with her, and she just happened to be reading up on materials for interning here.” Woozi explained, looking back at S. Coups as he did. So, he could at least meet the eyes of his members when he spoke. He only avoided eye contact with you.

The rest of the tour passed without incident. They showed you where other groups practiced, the offices, and the cafeteria. You were already starting to feel overwhelmed when they brought you back to the dance studio. S. Coups stopped you outside of the door.

“I just want to warn you, they can be a lot. Don’t let them scare you too much.” This didn’t help to calm your nerves, but you nodded and put on your best brave face.

When you entered the room, all their heads popped up to look at you, and you were instantly petrified. But you felt a hand gently urge you forward, and you glanced back to see that Woozi was the one with his hand on your back, an encouraging smile on his face.

You followed S. Coups to the front of the room. “Alright, boys, this is Y/N. She’s an intern and is going to be working with us for the next several months. I think we should just introduce ourselves one-by-one.”

Without further prompting, the first one started, “I’m Seungkwan, I’m in the vocal unit. Welcome, I’m looking forward to working with you.” He had a big, goofy grin as he spoke. You noticed that a lot of the guys had similar smiles plastered on their faces.

It passed around like this until everyone had introduced themselves. Then, they all looked expectantly at you. You looked at S. Coups, and he nodded encouragingly. “Uh, my name is Y/N. I’m a business major and music minor. I am terrified right now, but I’m excited to work with you.” They chuckled at your joke, thankfully. Even though it was also the truth.

“We’ve got some work to do now,” Woozi said, pulling your attention from the larger group to him. “You can sit and watch until the manager comes to get you again if you want.” He motioned to the chairs in the back of the room, and you scurried back to one without question. Anything to get out of the thirteen gazes you had been under since you entered the room.

You sat down, happy to have a little break. Your head was already spinning from just meeting them all. You didn’t know if it was appropriate to use your phone, but you couldn’t resist pulling it out and taking a picture of the group from the back. You sent it off to Lily, your friend, with the message:

I get to work with thirteen beautiful men for my internship. I think I’ve got it made.

They were now beginning to dance. You watched with fascination as they moved so in sync that you really thought they were of one mind. There was no other way thirteen guys could be so coordinated.

You were startled out of your fascination when the manager tapped you on the shoulder. He motioned for you to follow him out of the room, and lead you to the offices on this floor. “Is it going well so far?”

“Yeah,” You started, trying to decide your next words carefully. “It’s a little intimidating working with so many people, but I think I’ll get used to it.”

He chuckled, “I understand. I was overwhelmed when I first started working with them. They were much younger then than they are now, so they were a different sort of difficult. But, I think they’ll respond well to you, you just need to be assertive with them.”

He sat down at a desk, motioning for you to sit across from him. He then launched into a lecture about what exactly was expected of you. To you, it sounded like a glorified assistant. You were to help them with whatever they needed; from recording videos for them, to getting them food, or even helping them with singing or choreography monitoring if you felt comfortable doing so. Your hours were basically whenever you were not in class and they were at the company.

Once he was done talking, he walked you back to the practice room. There were significantly less people there now, much to your delight. “Alright guys, she’s going to be here a few more hours today. Talk to her, get to know her, make her comfortable. Y/N, good luck.”

You were surprised, he really was just throwing you to the wolves. You went and sat in the chair you had been in earlier, watching as the few guys in the room sat and continued the discussion they had been having before you came in.

After some time, one got up and came to sit in the back with you. He reintroduced himself, without you even prompting him to, as Jeonghan. You two talked for a while, before others started joining. It was mostly them asking you questions, especially about your life back home, but they also answered some of yours.

By the time you were set to leave, you were exhausted. Two of them walked you out of the building, but you were so worn out that you weren’t even sure who it was at this point.

You made it back to the dorm, with the intent to just go crash in your bed, but there were other people in the lounge. Namely, Lily, who stopped you to talk.

“You’re working with that big of a group? And they’re all gorgeous?” She gushed, pulling you until you sat on the sofa next to her. “What are you even doing?”

You groaned, laying your head on the back of the sofa to at least get some form of rest. “I’m a servant, basically. I don’t get to do anything with the production like I was hoping I would.”

“That’s a bummer.” She said, but quickly added, “But it can’t be so bad if they’re so cute.”

You rolled your eyes. “We’ll see, maybe they’ll all turn out to be obnoxious divas that I’ll hate.”

“That’s the attitude.” One of the guys in the room said. He added a sarcastic smile, then shrugged. “It could always be worse.”

You rolled your eyes at him. “I’m going to sleep, I don’t think I can keep my eyes open any longer.”

The first week passed by in a flurry. Your classes were all a joke, but you didn’t have to worry about them at least. Your time at your internship consisted of a lot of coffee runs with one or two of the guys, videoing their V Lives or other SNS postings, and sitting in the back of the practice room doing your own work. A couple of times they had asked you to watch their choreography for inconsistencies or dicey parts, but they seemed to be very self-sufficient in their monitoring.

You were busy messing around with your own music, mainly playing with beats, when Woozi sat down next to your usual perch in the practice room. You pulled out your earbuds and looked at him. It seemed like he wasn’t going to speak for a moment, but then he blurted, “This has been a full week since you started, right?”

You nodded, unsure why he was asking, but you didn’t get to inquire. He quickly ducked away, out of the room, leaving you confused. You had had a few interactions with him throughout the week, but he had always acted shy like this towards you. The only time he didn’t seem so shy was when he asked you to read through some lyrics, which had surprised you. You two had a really good, in depth discussion after you had done that. But, otherwise, he acted skittish and avoidant.

A few minutes passed before someone stood in front of you, expectantly. You looked up at Jeonghan, who was smiling wickedly. “We’re going out for dinner to celebrate your first week here.” He stated, reaching for your hand to pull you up. You quickly set down your laptop, just barely, before being pulled across the room.

“You really don’t need to do this.” You muttered, but it was useless, and you knew it.

“He guys, who’s not busy for the evening? Woozi had the idea to go out to celebrate Y/N’s first week here.” Jeonghan explained quickly, still gripping your hand so you couldn’t run away. You barely caught that he added it was Woozi’s idea. This made sense because he was inquiring about the matter, but at the same time he didn’t seem like he would care enough to celebrate your time here.

A couple of the guys agreed to come, but several had work to do. Next, Jeonghan started dragging you down the hallway, knocking on all the individual practice rooms and asking each person if they wanted to come. In the end, there were seven guys who came along.

They lead you to a Korean barbeque shop near the company, excitedly chatting while you walked. You found yourself forced in the middle of the group, but with Woozi by your side.

“I’m surprised you came.” You told him while you walked. Even though Jeonghan had said it was his idea, you wanted to figure out why he had suggested it. And he obviously didn’t want you to know he was the one behind it if he had made Jeonghan gather everyone.

“Why?” He sounded genuinely shocked by your statement.

You shrugged. “You’re always working very hard, and you never seem to take breaks.”

“Well, I, I just wanted to come out tonight.” He stumbled over the words a bit. When you glanced over at him, his ears were a bit red and he was focused on the back of the head of the guy in front of him.

You arrived at the restaurant, which saved you from trying to riddle Woozi out any more. You made sure to sit next to someone else during the meal, if not just to be able to make eye contact while talking to someone. You ended up sandwiched between Joshua and DK.

Throughout the meal you talked and joked with the guys. You got to talk a lot with Joshua, who seemed happy to be able to converse with you in English. But you also got to know some of the guys who were quieter, like Wonwoo and The8, more than you had during the week. You had a blast, and were thankful that your internship was turning out better than you thought.

Before you knew it, you were saying your goodbyes outside the restaurant. You just planned on walking back to your dorm from here because it was a warm and starry night. As you were turning to leave, however, someone caught hold of your hand. You turned, coming face-to-face with Woozi.

You startled a bit, taking a step back. He actually looked at your face as he spoke. “I’d like to walk you home, if that’s alright with you. Just so you’re not alone.”

It took you a second to pull out a response, you were so surprised by the offer. “Yeah, sure, if you want to.”

You two started walking in the direction of your dorm. “So, how do you like it so far?” He asked, his voice a little quiet, but he seemed more at ease than he normally was.

“It’s different than I thought it would be. But I’m having a lot of fun at least.” You explained, telling him more than you had everyone else. At dinner you had just told everyone you loved it and left it at that.

“What did you think would be different?”

“I was hoping for more experience with the music side of things, like producing and such.” You said, keeping your eyes glued to the pavement.

“I didn’t even know you were interested in that.” You nodded while he paused. When he pressed on, he sounded excited. “If you wanted to, I’m going to a different studio to work on some of that stuff tomorrow, you’re welcome to join me. I can teach you all about it.”

You let your eyes drift up to him. He was looking at you eagerly, a smile on his lips and his eyes dancing happily. “Are you sure?” He nodded. “Okay, I’d love that.”

You were just about to your dorm, which you pointed out to him. When you stopped in front of the building, he met your eyes and smiled a bit nervously. “I’ll pick you up here tomorrow, then? And we can go to the studio from there.”

“That sounds good. Thank you so much Woozi.” You felt like you should hug him, you probably would with anyone else, but you didn’t want to scare him off. He seemed to be getting more comfortable with you, and you didn’t want to ruin that.

When you went inside, you found Lily in the lounge. She looked at you with a huge grin on her face, and you knew she had been watching you outside just now. “Who was he?” She jumped right in, unabashedly.

“One of the guys in Seventeen.” You said simply, standing by the doorway. You didn’t want to get stuck here for long.

“What’s his name? Why was he walking you home? Why did it look like he wanted to kiss you so badly?” She gushed, leaning forward eagerly.

You rolled your eyes at her. “His name is Woozi. A bunch of the guys and I went out to dinner for my first week of being there, he just offered to walk me home. And I highly doubt that’s how he looked, he looked more like a scared puppy who wanted to scamper away.”

She chuckled at you. “He was anything but scared. I’m calling it now, he likes you.”

“Whatever, I’m going to sleep.” You grumbled, ignoring her. There was no way Woozi thought of you like that, he couldn’t even meet your eyes when you talked most of the time.

The following day, you got up before your alarm even went off. You had extra time because of this, so you showered, dried your hair, did your makeup, and got dressed in a pair of shorts and an oversized hoodie. You then made your way downstairs to make some coffee and wait until Woozi showed up.

To your surprise, Woozi was already there when you came down the stairs. He was sitting awkwardly with Lily and two other students in the kitchen. When you came in, both his and Lily’s head snapped up at you. He looked relieved while she looked annoyed at you interrupting what was surely her interrogation.

“Good morning.” You told them both, going to grab a travel mug and filling it with coffee someone else had already made. “Are you ready to go, Woozi?”

“Yes.” He snapped immediately, standing up and scampering over to you. You chuckled and shook your head, waving to Lily as you left.

“I hope she didn’t bother you too much.” You said as he began to lead you down the sidewalk.

“She was persistent. But it’s ok.” He replied. He had donned a baseball cap and mask while you walked, so you couldn’t really read his facial expression to know what he was thinking. He quickly changed the subject anyway. “So, we’re going to be in the studio alone this morning. After lunch, one of the producers we work with is coming in to help a bit, and a couple of the guys may join as well. I’ll focus on teaching you as much as I can this morning.”

“You don’t have to do that,” You said, feeling like you were going to be distracting Woozi from his work. “I’ll just sit and watch, I can learn that way.”

He looked at you, and you could tell from the crinkle around his eyes that he was smiling at you. “I invited you so I could teach you all I know, so that’s what I’m going to do.”

You rolled your eyes but walked with him in silence until he stopped you at a building. He took you up to the fifth floor, where he let you into what he called the studio. It looked more like an apartment to you, it even had a small kitchen in it. Woozi dropped his bag on a couch, then lead you over to one of the doors. It opened into a small room with a bunch of equipment and several computers.

“Here, take a seat.” He pointed towards one of the rolling chairs. You listened as he sat down in the other chair, starting to boot up the electronics. You watched as he quickly pulled up several programs on a computer, stunned at how expertly he was moving through these preparations. “Alright, time to work.”

He launched into an explanation of what he was planning to work on and how he wanted to go about it. He then pulled your chair very close to his own so that he could point out everything that he was doing on the computer screen. You were fascinated by the process and learning much more than you had been prepared to. Woozi was a great teacher, he seemed very comfortable and knowledgeable about this, and he was able to articulate everything so that you could understand.

You didn’t even realize the whole morning had flown by until someone was knocking on the door to the studio. “Yeah?” Woozi called, turning to watch who entered. A man, probably in his late 30’s, came in with a bag that was wafting in delicious smells and a smile.

“I brought you food, I figured you hadn’t left all morning.” He handed Woozi the bag, then turned to you. “I’m Bumzu.”

You introduced yourself, thanking him for letting you join. Woozi handed over a box of food to you, which you took gratefully. Once the smell of the food had hit you, you had realized just how hungry you were. “We’ll go in the living room to eat, if you want to look over what I’ve done so far.” Woozi explained, already getting up to leave. You followed wordlessly and went to sit down on the couch next to him.

The rest of the day passed by in a flurry. Woozi and Bumzu worked through most of the evening, with a couple of the other members popping in and out to say hi or help when they could. You either stood in the corner of the tiny room to watch while they worked or sat in the living room to talk to whatever member was there to talk to.

“Hey, Y/N, wake up.” You were being shaken, and you startled at the voice. You knew you had started to doze a little, but you hadn’t realized you had fully fallen asleep. Woozi was standing over you, smiling brightly but with tired bags under his eyes. “We’re leaving, I’ll walk you home.”

You nodded, standing up slowly and stretching a little before following him out of the studio. Once you woke up a bit more, you told him, “Thank you for today, I learned a lot.”

“I’m sorry it was such a long day, but that’s how we get the most work done.” He smiled a little sheepishly at you. “I’m glad you came though, it was fun.”

When you reached your dorm, you were again unsure of how to part with him like last night.

“Thanks for coming today, Y/N.”

Before you could stop yourself, you wrapped your arms around him in a quick hug. You weren’t even sure what possessed you to do it, but you were able to let go before he could even react. “Thank you.” You then rushed inside, mentally smacking yourself on the head as you did.

You had to admit to yourself, though, that hugging him had some little part of you very, very happy.

The next day you had class in the morning, then you rushed off to the company building. You were dreading it just a little bit because you weren’t sure how Woozi would react to last night. You were hoping he would be fine with it, that it wouldn’t be a big deal.

When you got to the practice room to see if anyone needed anything, you found only three guys in there.

“Hey, Y/N, long time, no see!” Seungkwan said, rushing over to you. He had a goofy grin on his face, which made you worry about what he was up to. “How are you today?”

“I’m fine, but what’s up with you?” You said, setting your bag down then turning to eye him suspiciously. When you looked at the other two in the room, they had similar mischievous grins.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” He replied, but it was exaggerated with some weird undertone that was almost sing-songy. “Did you have fun yesterday?”

“I don’t know that it was fun, but I learned a lot.”

“Ah, from what we heard it sounded like you had fun.” Dino chimed in.

You walked over to the small group, trying to look authoritative. “And what did you hear that made it sound like fun?”

All three chuckled, but none answered. You were getting frustrated now, so you grabbed Seungkwan by the ear and pulled a bit. “AH, stop!” He cried immediately, batting at your hand.

“Tell me what you’re talking about then.”

“Woozi said you hugged him! He won’t stop talking about it!” You released your hold on Seungkwan, running your hand over your face to try to hide some of the immediate blush that spread across your cheeks. “You don’t have to be so violent, we were just teasing you.”

“What has Woozi even been saying?” You demanded, ignoring his comment.

Dino chuckled at you, “Why do you want to know so bad?”

“I-I’m just curious.”

“Then go ask him yourself.” Dino said with a little wink at you.

You turned and marched back to your chair, annoyed with them but your mind was also racing. What in the world was Woozi going on about to the guys? Had you scared him off with the hug?

As the day passed, the guys filtered in and out of the room. When Jeonghan finally came in, you grabbed him. You knew you could probably get him to talk. “Hey, come sit you with me.” You called to him.

He obliged, sitting in the chair next to you. “I wonder, whatever could you want to talk to me about?” He spoke with a teasing tone and gave you his charming smile as well.

“You’re going to tease me too?” You groaned, rolling your head back to look up at the ceiling.

“Ah, I’ll stop if you’re that annoyed with it.” When you glanced sideways at him, you could tell from his expression that he most definitely wouldn’t let it drop.

You pressed on despite that fact. “Will you tell me what Woozi’s been telling everyone else?”

He laughed at this, a whole-hearted laugh that drew the attention of a few of the guys who were dancing. “Are you worried about what he’s saying?”

“No, just nobody will tell me, but everyone is teasing me. I think I have a right to know.”

“Have you thought about asking Woozi yourself?”

You shook your head. “I would much rather find out from someone else before I talk to him.”

He looked at you in disbelief for a second, the chuckled. “He’s just telling everyone you hugged him, so he thinks you like him. Honestly, he’s been bragging about it as much as he can.”

“Bragging?”

Jeonghan nodded. “Not typical of him, but he seems to be very happy about it.”

You sat in silence, trying to process this new information. So, Woozi assumed you liked him just because you hugged him. That was the exact opposite of scaring him off. You hadn’t meant anything by the hug, though, which worried you that he would get the wrong idea.

“Y/N?” Jeonghan pulled you out of your thinking. “I’m not going to ask you to tell me your feelings, but I do want to just give you my input. If you do like him, then it’s all good. But if you don’t, you need to clear things up quickly. I don’t want him to get hurt, and I don’t want this to mess with your internship either.”

You nodded, knowing what he said was very wise. You needed to end this right now, before it got carried on too much. “Thanks, Jeonghan.”

“Sure, I’m going to dance now. But if you want to talk more, I’ll listen.” He got up and joined the group, blending into the dance seamlessly. You watched them a while, letting your thoughts run wild as you did. You knew you needed to talk to Woozi, and you really should today. At the same time, you really didn’t want to have that conversation because it would be awkward no matter how you went about it.

At the same time, you remembered the feeling you got after hugging him. You couldn’t put a label to the feeling, but you knew it was one you wouldn’t mind experiencing again.

You were so lost in thought that you almost didn’t notice as the door opened, and someone walked in. He walked straight for the dancing group, which is when you noticed that it was Woozi. Your heart leapt into your throat, and you panicked. Without you being fully aware of what you were doing, you ducked out of the door.

You scanned the waiting room frantically, looking for some excuse to leave. Wonwoo was sitting there, headphones in and a notebook perched on his lap. You went over to him, motioning for him to look at you. When he did, he smiled. “Hey, Y/N.”

“Hi, do you want to go get coffees with me?”

“Sure, who is it for?” He started to get up, and you quickly ushered him towards the door.

“Uh, no one in particular. I was just bored.” You lied the best you could, hoping he wouldn’t see through it.

“That’s awfully nice of you.”

After getting coffees for the whole team, you talked three of the guys into doing a V Live to buy you more time without having to face Woozi. After that, you decided to go check in with the manager because you hadn’t in a while. By the time you finished with that, it was time for you to leave for the day.

You had decided to wait and talk to Woozi tomorrow. Tomorrow was Friday, so you wouldn’t have to face him over the weekend after your talk. That seemed like the best solution to you.

When you got back to the dorm, you sat in the empty lounge to work on some homework. You were getting used to staying up late here, so you were just starting to think about going to bed when the clock struck 12. While you were contemplating this, you heard the doorbell go off. You got up to answer it, not even thinking to look through the peephole before doing so.

Woozi was standing there, looking down at the ground intently. Your stomach dropped through the floor, but you were able to mutter, “Hi, Woozi.”

“Hey.” He looked up at you through his lashes. “I was, uh, wondering if I could talk to you? I wanted to at the company today, but I didn’t see you all day.”

“Oh, yeah, I was pretty busy today. But come in, we can talk.” You stepped aside to let him in, then lead the way to the lounge. You sat on the couch by your papers, expecting him to sit across from you. But he sat right next to you on the couch. “What did you want to talk about?”

He took a deep breath. “Um, I know the guys were teasing you a lot today. Jeonghan told me you were stressed about that.” You immediately filed in the back of your head to never talk to Jeonghan about your problems again if he was just going to go and blab them right away.

“It’s nothing, I was just acting like that to get them to stop.” You thought the lie came out smoothly.

Woozi nodded, seeming to think this over before proceeding. “I also had a question for you. And I want you to answer honestly, I promise I’m ok with whatever your answer is.”

Your stomach sunk even lower and your heart started to beat wildly in your chest. You wanted to speak up and tell him what you had resolved on telling him earlier, that you didn’t think doing anything would be a good idea. But, you were also curious about what he was going to say.

When he realized you were just going to wait for him to go on, he cleared his throat, then spoke. “I want to take you on a date, if you’ll go with me. It won’t be the best date ever because it’ll have to be a little secretive, but I’ll still make sure it’s fun.” He was obviously nervous as he rambled out his thoughts.

You weren’t sure what to say when he finally finished. Part of you wanted to stick to your guns and say this was a horrible idea. The other part, the part that had fluttered when you hugged him, couldn’t turn down such a cute proposition. 

You could tell by his worried expression that you were taking far too long to come up with an answer, which is how you found yourself nodding without even thinking about it.

“Really?” His eyes lit up and a tentative smile crept across his lips. “Is tomorrow night okay, are you free?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” You muttered, still stuck on the part where you said yes to going on a date, not letting him down gently like you had planned.

He got up to leave, his smile turning into a much wider and brighter one. “I’ll talk to you about the details tomorrow, then. Good night, Y/N.”

“Good night.” You called as he let himself out. You sat there, stunned, for who knows how long. Your first impulse when you could move again was to run and tell Lily, but then you thought better of it. It was one date, that wasn’t a big deal. Right?

The next day was filled with even more teasing from the guys, unsurprisingly. At least this time you were prepared for it and mostly ignored their quips. The few times you didn’t just ignore them were when you let your nerves get the better of you, because you were on edge the entire day. You hadn’t seen Woozi all day, so you still weren’t sure what your date was going to consist of.

At noon, you decided it was time to hunt him down and ask him. You knocked on every practice room door but couldn’t find him anywhere. Instead of finding who you wanted, you got pestered by Jeonghan, who followed you around asking you random questions.

“What’s your favorite food?”

“Spaghetti with meat sauce.” You had adopted just answering every question at this point, hoping it would work like talking to a young kid and he would eventually tire of this game.

“What kind of dessert do you like?”

“Anything with chocolate.”

“And coffee?”

“Lattes.”

“What about movies?”

“Jeonghan.” You turned on him, finally getting tired of him. “Why are you doing this? Don’t you have something you should be doing?”

“I’m doing what I need to be doing.” He smiled broadly at you. “So, what’s your favorite kind of movie?”

You groaned, simply walking away from him and into the main practice room. “Who’s seen Woozi today?”

All their hands went up, and you wanted to smack yourself. Of course everyone had seen him, they lived in the same dorm. It was Jun who finally spoke up to answer your unspoken question of where he was, though. “He’s out of the building today to do work.”

You groaned and flopped down into your chair. The guys went back to their work with that, leaving you to sulk in the back of the room. You ended up just sitting there the rest of the day, switching off between watching the guys and letting your thoughts run wild with what was going to happen tonight.

The guys began to clear out one by one, breaking off to go to dinner or go back to the dorm. When everyone but Jeonghan and Joshua had left, you decided it was time for you to leave as well. Maybe Woozi was just planning on coming to your dorm after he was done with work.

Before you could leave, though, Joshua grabbed your hand. “Not so fast. Come with us.” Before you could say anything, he pulled you out of the room and down the hall to the door of a practice room.

“What are you doing?” You asked when he stopped. Jeonghan had followed you two, and both guys were wearing mischievous grins.

“Getting you ready for your date. Go in there and get changed, there’s an outfit for you.” Joshua explained excitedly.

You reached for any reason to protest this scheme. “Where did you get an outfit for me?”

“One of the girls loaned it to us.” Jeonghan said, assumingly talking about one of the girl artists in the company.

“There’s no way I’ll fit into any of their clothes.”

“You will, we promise.” Joshua opened the door at this time, and Jeonghan shoved you from behind. You stumbled into the room, whipping around right away to fuss at them. Before you could, the door was slammed shut in your face.

You turned back around, looking for whatever they were wanting you to change into. On the bench sat a black dress. As you picked it up, the smooth cotton material twisted between your fingers. At least it would stretch a lot.

You sighed but resolved that there was no way out of this. You shucked off your jeans and t-shirt and wiggled into the dress. There were lace inserts on the sleeves and back, and it turned out to fit you like a glove.

“Ok, I’m changed.” You called out, assuming that they were blocking you from escaping the room.

When the door swung open, both guys beamed at you. “Perfect, now go up to the rooftop.”

They ushered you down the hall, to the elevators. Joshua even ducked in to hit the seventh-floor button for you, before getting out and letting the doors close on you. Now that you were alone, your nerves started to get to you.

You had never been up to the rooftop, but from the seventh floor landing it wasn’t hard to find the stairs that would lead you there. The door at the top of them was even propped open, letting the fading light of the setting sun stream into the stair well. When you got outside, you looked around to see why you were up here.

Off to one side of the roof, Woozi was standing next to a little table with two chairs. He smiled when he saw you, then darted his eyes shyly to the ground. You took a deep breath and walked over to him.

“What is this?” You asked, not able to hold back your curiosity. The table was set for two and had a small candle flickering in the middle.

Woozi looked at the table, then back to you. “I told you it’d have to be a bit secretive. We’re going to have dinner first, if that’s ok with you.”

“Sure,” You said as he went to pull out your chair for you. You sat, taking in the view you had from the rooftop. This wasn’t the tallest building in the city, but it gave you a decent view of the sunset and the bustling streets below.

Your attention was snapped back to the table as S.Coups appeared, dressed in a comically stereotypical waiter outfit. “Good evening. What can I get you to drink?”

You couldn’t help but chuckle. Woozi asked for water, and you just followed suit. “How did you get him to agree to this?”

Woozi smiled, “I have a lot of people who owe me. I’ve cashed in a few of those favors tonight.”

“A few? So are we just eating dinner, or is there more?”

Woozi just laughed as a response. You were going to press further, but Coups brought out your water and a basket of breadsticks. From there, Woozi quickly changed the subject to talking about your day, then began a series of personal questions. What your life was like, what you wanted to do in the future, what your family and friends were like, etc.

When Coups brought out the food, you couldn’t help but squeal in surprise and excitement. He had brought two big plates of spaghetti drenched in meat sauce. It looked picture-perfect. When you looked from the food to Woozi, he looked delighted by your response.

“Where did you get this?” You asked, picking up your fork and starting to dig around in the noodles. It looked amazing and smelled even better.

Woozi shrugged, “I made it, with a little bit of help. Take a bite, tell me how it is.”

You listened, loading your fork more than was necessary. It was a little sweeter than normal, but it still tasted amazing after not having eaten it for so long. “It’s perfect.” You told Woozi after you had swallowed.

“Good.” He stated, then began to dig into his own plate. The rest of the meal was silent, mainly because you were too focused on devouring the entire serving. When you finished, you sat back and stretched, very satisfied.

You were content with watching the darkening sky, but Woozi quickly pulled you back when he spoke. “Look at the time, we’re going to be late for our movie.”

When you looked back at him, he had already stood up and was holding his hand out for you. “Movie?”

He smiled and nodded. You took his hand, letting him lead you down the stairs and to the elevators again. You expected him to take you to the ground floor, but instead he pressed the button for the third. He pulled you down the hall to the main practice room. Once inside, you found a bunch of couches and chairs had been pulled inside and a bunch of the guys were seated in them. The loveseat that was at the front of the seating arrangement was empty.

As you sat down, Woozi whispered, “Sorry, they insisted that we should have an audience like a normal theater.” You couldn’t help but chuckle at this, but you were touched. Woozi pulled a bucket of popcorn from the floor beside his side of the couch and set it between us.

The lights went out, and a movie started to play on the wall from a projector that must have been placed somewhere. You watched, munching on the popcorn even though you had just filled up on dinner.

About halfway through the movie, the popcorn bucket was empty, so you set it down on the floor. By some burst of confidence that overcame you in the moment, you grabbed Woozi’s hand and laced your fingers through his. You did, however, make sure to keep your joined hands close to the couch so the other guys wouldn’t see it. You wanted to keep the teasing to a minimum.

When the movie ended, Woozi stood up, still holding your hand tightly, and pulled you from the room. “Are you ok having dessert and coffee now?”

You nodded, surprised that there was yet another part to this elaborate date. You were dragged to the elevators, and down to the second floor now. The cafeteria was dimly lit as you entered, and behind the counter where the serving staff usually were Mingyu stood.

“Hello, what can I get the two of you?” He asked, playing along like Coups has as our server earlier.

“One caramel latte, one iced americano, and your best dessert.” Woozi rattled off.

“Alright, coming right up. Please, take a seat.”

You two went and sat at one of the tables. Mingyu trailed with your drinks and a piece of chocolate cake. He must have had everything ready to go before you got down here. Once he served you, he left the room, leaving you and Woozi alone.

You were already moving to take a bite of the cake, which looked delicious. But Woozi quietly asked, “So was this an okay date? Not the worst you’ve ever been on?”

You set your fork down and looked at him. He was looking at the table, and his throat bobbed as he took a nervous gulp. “The worst? No, this is probably the best date I’ve ever been on.” This drew his eyes up to you, full of eager surprise. It was the truth, this was probably the most thoughtful date anyone had ever taken you on.

“Really?” When you nodded, his expression shifted into one of relief. “I was worried it might be too cheesy.”

“No, it’s been perfect. I can’t believe you put this all together in just one day.”

You noticed the slightest of blushes spreading across his cheeks at the compliment. He grabbed his fork suddenly, motioning to the cake. “Have a bite.”

You listened, letting the conversation drop to eat and drink your coffee. It was a very comfortable silence that fell between you, though. You normally would have felt pressured to fill it with someone else, but you were content sitting here like this with Woozi.

After the cake was gone and your coffees were finished, you almost expected Woozi to pull another trick from out of nowhere. But he stood up, again offering his hand to you as he did. “Would you like me to walk you home?”

You nodded, taking his hand as you stood. When you got outside, the night air was mild, and the streets were bustling with people on their way to nights out, dates, or home. You watched as Woozi slipped on his hat and mask, which seemed to be his standard whenever he left the studio. After he had done so, though, he slipped his arm around your shoulders and pulled you close to him as you walked.

It took a while to reach your dorm because of all the foot traffic, but you were ok with that. It felt nice to walk alongside him and with his arm around you. You were a bit sad when you did reach your dorm and Woozi twisted his arm so that you turned to face him. He had pulled his mask to his chin, so he could talk to you.

“Thank you for tonight.”

You shook your head, “No, thank you. You really put a lot of thought into it, and I had a lot of fun.” Then you ducked in for a hug, since that was what had spurred all of this. You felt him chuckle slightly after you had your arms wrapped around his neck, and he wrapped his around your waist.

“Y/N?” You pulled away slightly to look at him when he said your name. What happened next was like a scene out of the movies. His eyes slid from yours down to your lips, the trailed back again, the unspoken question there. You simply put one of your hands on the back of his neck and leaned in until your lips met. You felt like your heart would leap out of your chest as your lips brushed against his, which were soft and velvety.

It was too soon when he pulled away from you, smiling bigger than you had ever seen him smile before. “I’ll see you on Monday.” And then he was turning and walking away.

You stood there for a moment before turning to walk into your dorm, never happier that you had ended up in studying abroad with your crazy friend.


End file.
